The Source of All Evil
The Source Of All Evil is the title that represents the most powerful demon and ruler of the Underworld. The Evil Essence The Source is an evil essence which possessed the bodies of numerous demons over the centuries. When the demon body is vanquished, the essence is transferred into another evil entity. This means that every known Source was in fact the same essence, while demons in general believe that a new Source has risen. The essence is known to take a new host and merge with that host, taking over their personality while secretly remaining the same essence. The essence can also be reborn in beings who are related to him by blood or those who are in possession of his powers. The essence of the Source lies within its powers. When Cole gained the Source's powers, the essence was reborn within him. The essence takes the personality of the being whose body it has possessed, and makes it its own. This is evident as the Source was forced to love Phoebe because Cole did. Once The Source/Cole was vanquished, the essence went into Phoebe and Cole's unborn son and took control of his body and powers. He used those powers to take control of Phoebe and tried to get his revenge against The Charmed Ones. Background Each demon wants to become the Source; a ceremony must take place crowning Him/Her as the putative ruler of demonkind and in full control of the Underworld. The coronation must be conducted by a Dark Priest and requires that The Source be touching the ancient and powerful demonic Grimoire, evil's equivalent to the Book of Shadows. The first and most noted Source introduced in the series had a tattooed face that, as finally revealed on screen late into his time, was partially mutilated from battles with other Powerful Upper Level demons, such as Zankou, for control over the Underworld, which brought him to power. ("Charmed and Dangerous") Among his many demonic powers were: throwing fireballs, energy balls, teleportation (with flames), manipulating flame, shape-shifting, summoning demons and evil beings, mind control, and possession. He sent numerous demons after the Halliwell sisters. His greatest victory came when Prue was killed by his assassin Shax. ("All Hell Breaks Loose") History War against the Charmed Ones The show’s first season saw two warlocks, under the aliases Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster, stalking and attempting to murder the three Charmed Ones. In the episode The Witch is Back, Buckland mentions having failed a mysterious “He”, after the 17th century warlock, Matthew Tate, was unsuccessful in killing the sisters. The two agree that by outing the Halliwells as descendants of Melinda Warren (and thus, as the Charmed Ones) that it wasn't a complete failure, a feat which would buy them time to vanquish the sisters themselves. Following this, Buckland and Webster expose themselves as warlocks to the Charmed Ones when they attempt to steal their powers, but they fail in killing them. This leads to Webster being seen spontaneously combusting, screaming out in pain “Wait, it wasn’t my fault! I didn’t fail!”, whilst being vanquished by an off-screen and unknown force. It is likely that these two warlocks were hired by the Source to kill the Charmed Ones and that this was the mysterious “He” who vanquished them when they failed in their mission. "(Wicca Envy)" Even before their deaths, in the episode “The Wedding from Hell”, one can note that the two warlocks were invited to the wedding of Hecate, the so-called “Queen of the Underworld”, thus illustrating the fact that they were remotely connected with the royal hierarchy of the Underworld. In Give Me a Sign, Litvack refers to the Source as his boss. After the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse failed to end the world, the Source vanquished them though he was not actually shown on screen, as in "Wicca Envy." We do know that it was him because it was mentioned throughout the episode that only the Source could kill them and at the end it was the Source who was keeping the vortex open and killing them. ("Apocalypse, Not") The Source is spoken about throughout season three mainly by demons who he sends to kill the Charmed Ones and those who attempt to get into his good graces and inner circle. The first time he is seen is during the third season finale,'' All Hell Breaks Loose,'' after his assassin Shax tried to kill a doctor that the Source wanted dead. In the end, he kills the Charmed One Prue Halliwell, destroying the Power of Three. ("All Hell Breaks Loose") Renewed war against the Charmed Ones The Source renewed his war against the Charmed Ones after they were reconstituted, despite his best efforts to preempt this by swaying Paige Matthews to his side. ("Charmed Again, Part 1") He made several attempts on the Charmed Ones' lives and their powers, including putting Piper into a coma in order to force her to give up her powers, ("Brain Drain") and taking in the Hollow, an ancient formless being which has the power to absorb all magic, and, if not contained, destroy the entire world. He was successful in stealing their powers, but Cole Turner took in The Hollow and stole the Source's power when he threw a fireball at him. The Charmed Ones then vanquished the Source the only way possible: calling all of the magic from their entire family line. ("Charmed and Dangerous") Legacy However, after his death, his powers and his spirit were absorbed by Cole, whose demon half had been vanquished. This had left a void where it once was, allowing the Source to fill it. Cole attained the full control of the powers of the Source and, in after his coronation he became strong enough to rule the Underworld. The possessed Cole was killed by the Charmed Ones shortly after his official reign began. ("Long Live the Queen") After Cole's first physical death, his widow Phoebe, was carrying their child, whose darker half was intensified by a tonic created by The Seer and given to Phoebe. She was prevented from having the child be a powerful being of good borne of her union with Cole because she was bound in her dark wedding ceremony to the Source. This child grew powerful enough that he could control his mother from the womb. The unborn child was stolen by The Seer in her bid to become the new Source, but, in the end, both were vanquished for good. ("Womb Raider") Resurrected Four years later, an unnamed possessor demon invaded the body of a woman named Mandi, in order to manipulate Piper and Leo's son Wyatt. She then used Wyatt's incredible powers to bring the previous half-faced Source back from the dead (which would possibly be right out of the belly of the serpent-like beast of the Demonic Wasteland, but this was killed in Season 4 so there would have to be more than one). This also again makes the point that Cole Turner wasn't the Source in and of himself, but was possessed by the Source (or Cole would have returned instead of the half-faced Source, when Wyatt's powers were used to bring back the Source). However, Leo, along with the Charmed Ones' protege Billie Jenkins, trapped in Magic School with no way to get home, realized the school has been taken over by evil, and discovered the demon's plan. Shortly after, they found a spell to return Billie, who warned the Charmed Ones, who in return went to Magic School to rescue Leo. Meanwhile, Leo stayed in the school to watch over Wyatt. Although he was disguised from the world, the Source sensed that he was in fact the Charmed Ones' former Whitelighter. The Charmed Ones arrived just in time, and Piper vanquished the unnamed demon, and with it the resurrected Source, as their magic was interconnected. ("Desperate Housewitches") The Half-faced Source This Source had been in power and in control of the underworld for thousands of years, disfiguring his face in his battle to ascend to the throne. Higher-level demons were able to communicate with The Source through swirling balls of supernatural fire, and all demons were able to sense his glory, as a reminder of his power. In turn The Source was able to sense and summon all of his subjects, especially if they focused their concentration on locating him, but few demons ever met this Source, and even fewer saw his disfigured face. The Source had many powers including pyrokinesis, telekinesis, Immortality, Immunity, Regenration, adjusting, reconstitution, flaming, sensing and possession; was able to phase, appearing as a non-corporeal entity; cast flameballs and force blasts; could move at extremely fast speeds; generate electrical fields; shapeshift and even transform. The Source was also telepathic, able to read ‘souls’; and minds and project and hear thoughts, even across dimensions; create mental illusions; and cloud minds, subtly influencing them,cloaking his actvivites from good beings,transforming other people,manipulating temerature,absorbing knowledge,and creating instant sleep through the wave of a hand. On the rare occasion that he was injured The Source gushed black blood, while his very presence was enough to momentarily disrupt electrical systems and lights. EnchantSource.jpg|The Source TheSourceVanquished.gif|The Source is vanquished (click for animation) Source_contained_in_crystal_cage.jpg|The Source in the crystal cage PhoebeLevitateKickSource.gif|Phoebe kicks the Source while levitating (click for animation) Cole Turner possessed by the Source When the original Source was vanquished, his evil and power had already been absorbed by the Hollow and were able to survive to be reborn within Cole Turner. With his demon half vanquished, a void was left within him until the entity of The Source filled it making him demonic again. After being absorbed into Cole by the power of The Hollow the weakened spirit of The Source only had subconscious control of its new body, but quickly gained both strength and power to completely subdue Cole's personality, taking over his body near-absolutely. This first manifested itself when Phoebe asked Cole if there was something he wasn't telling her (at the end of "The Three Faces of Phoebe") but after some hesitation he replied no, in spite of the fact that he'd clearly been hiding something all day. Though it wore Cole's mortal body The Source was recognized by the flaming black eyes it would sometimes display to demons to gain their obedience. From there, he would hatch a plan involving setting up events for Phoebe Halliwell to marry him in a dark wedding ceremony and conceive a demonic heir, then for him to take over the Underworld and kill the Charmed Ones (either in the process or afterwards). However, there was one piece of of Cole's humanity the Source was unable to overcome: the former Belthazor's now intrinsic love for Phoebe. This forced the Source to integrate that love into its being and work it into its plans. The results of this included helping to save Paige (who he intensely disliked at the time and vice versa) from the Vampire Queen who was coming after his throne, getting the power broker demon to remove the bad powers that were driving Paige insane (in spite of the fact that he was actually enjoying taking advantage of this to torture her), and, as Cole became strong enough through said love for Phoebe to force the Source to work with him, even a nearly successful transfer of the Source from Cole Turner to a crafty wizard. Ironically, it would be this same love returned by Phoebe which would cause her (along with the couple's demonic spawn inside her) to interrupt the transfer by destroying the wizard, forcing Cole and Phoebe to embrace evil together as the new Source and his Queen. Again ironically, as Phoebe could not fully immerse herself in the role due to hormonal fits and a just-as-intrinsic desire to be with her family and to be good, this ended up as Source Cole's downfall. As other Sources had before him, Cole possessed a great array of powers; including fireballs; flaming; molecular control; telekinesis; shapeshifting, immortality, regeneration, invulnerability, with almost no magical power able to permanently harm him; and telepathy capable of both reading and manipulating minds; but by far his most important ability was his shielding against the power of premonition. While his evil side held strong Phoebe's power was completely useless on him, guaranteeing his true nature remained a secret from The Charmed Ones until his coronation granted him access to his full powers as The Source. This made it very useful as he was strong enough for a time to near-completely suppress the humanity within him. The Source's greatest ally was the Seer, though she closely guarded her true evil agendas. As the only supreme power in the Underworld, this Source brought about an unprecedented alliance between different demonic races while also finally eradicating the entire clan of Vampires that was after his throne. The Source as Cole Turner was finally vanquished by the sisters: Piper, Leo and Paige orbed to Cole's loft and battled him. Piper blew him up twice but he reconstituted himself both times. Paige tried to encase him in a crystal cage again, but he stopped her. However, Phoebe rejoined her sisters and completed the cage. The three then vanquished him again with the same spell that they used the first time. His vanquish as Cole freed Cole from his power and he got absorbed along with all of his powers by the beast in the Demonic Wasteland. Heir taking the her child from Phoebe]] Cole's widow, Phoebe, was carrying the child of The Source, who was transformed into a being of pure evil thanks to machinations of the Seer - a dark wedding, a potion to allow for an evil conception, and tonic given to Phoebe to strengthen the child and its mother's bond to evil. The child was now able to control his mother from the womb. The unborn child was stolen by The Seer, who placed it in her own womb, thus gaining the power of the Source's heir, in her bid to become the new Source. is the new Source.]] She told Phoebe that the baby was never hers nor Cole's to begin with, that from the moment of conception, the baby had always been hers. However, in the end both were vanquished for good by the Charmed Ones when they forced the Seer to tap into the child's full power in her attempt to vanquish them. This power was too great for her to contain and the unborn Source self-destructed taking the Seer and the Infernal Council with him. Resurrection as a Golem A year after the half-faced Source had returned, Neena and Hogan, a witch and a warlock respectively, worked together to permit the resurrection of the Source, gathering all the ingredients needed to revive him, the most pivotal being the blood of many innocents that the Charmed Ones helped over the years. With other demons, they built a golem out of the ground of the Underworld, bound him with the soil of the Ancient Burial Ground, anointed him with the blood of the innocents, and with a spell cast by a High Priest, the essence of the Source was imbued into this new body. Upon ressurection, The Source's goal was to get revenge by destroying the Charmed Ones once and for all.﻿ After a battle ensues amongst the Source, the Charmed Ones, and their husbands, the sisters create a vanquishing potion imbued with the essence of every white magic practitioner in the realm, including leprechauns, nymphs, and fellow witch Billie Jenkins. When the Source arrives at the Magic School, the sisters throw the potion at him, Piper stabs him with the Sword of Excalibur, and the sisters proceed to recite a more powerful version of the Power of Three Spell, thus destroying The Source once and for all. Afterwards, Neena seems to be happy about this as it turns out that it was her plan all along. Casting another spell, Neena harnesses The Source's vanquished essence and shares it with her demon army so that she could attack and conquer The Heavens. Powers and Abilities The Source, by far, has more powers than any single demon in the universe. Some of his powers displayed have included but are not limited to: Vanquish Spells To Call Upon Our Ancestors :Prudence, Penelope :Patricia, Melinda... :Astrid, Helena :Laura and Grace :Halliwell Witches :Stand strong beside us :Vanquish this evil :from time and space To Vanquish the Source *Cast by the Charmed Ones *Piper impaled the Source with The Sword of Excalibur and Paige threw a potion infused with the magic of Billie Jenkins and various members of the Magical Community after which they recited this spell: :The Power of Three we now decree! :The Power of Three will set you free! :The Power of Three will DESTROY thee! To Share the Source's Power *Used in Season 9 by Neena *Neena casts the spell causing the power to split amongst herself and many other demons around her, including a Goat Demon, a Dragon Demon, a Darklighter, Vampires and Dark Priests. :Ancient evil now destroyed. :Others rise to fill the void. :To build our strength within this hour, :Leave vanquished Source, but share his power. Notes * He was responsible for incarcerating the powerful demon Zankou ("Witchness Protection") and the demon Tall Man ("Womb Raider"). * He is also responsible for banishing numerous beings from the underworld, such as: vampires, wizards, Kurzon, and even possibly Hecate. * The Source was the main antagonist during the first four seasons although he wasn't formally introduced until the end of the third season. It is assumed that the "he" that Rex and Hannah mention in "Wicca Envy" was the Source, and he was first mentioned by name in the episode Give Me a Sign but he remained unseen until All Hell Breaks Loose. * On Charmed, when Hecate appeared, it was said that she was the Queen of the Underworld - meaning that it is possible that she was with the Source during that time. Then the Charmed Ones defeated her and imprisoned her in an 14th century Poignard , and never appeared later on in the series. Possibly, this was because The Source vanquished her or banished her, but there could be other reasons. It is also possible that she proclaimed herself Queen of the Underworld, and was in some sort of power struggle with the Source. However, this is most likely simply one of the many errors of the writers -- the Source at the point was considerably more powerful and experienced than the Charmed Ones, and thus the Source would have no problem defeating her, and probably would not respect someone as weak as her, not to mention the fact that there is virtually no mention of the Source or the Underworld until season two. * When the Source appeared for the first time in season 3, he was dressed in a red robe with a red hood covering his face ("All Hell Breaks Loose"). He had large wings attached to his back, and was holding a sword. In season 4, he was only dressed in a black robe with a black hood covering his face. He was also considerably less stout (as he was no longer played by Michael Bailey Smith). * The color of the Source's hands hands changed three times. From black to red, and from red to white. * His face remained covered until one of the guardians (the evil one) of The Hollow zapped him with a lightning strike. The Source then rose with his face finally showing, keeping the hood off since. * Only upper level demons and the Charmed Ones have seen his face. * The Source once shapeshifted the Seer so as to disguise her from the Charmed Ones. * Actor Peter Woodward, who portrayed the half faced Source, also appears as the demon Aku in the season seven episodes "Someone To Witch Over Me" and "Ordinary Witches". * The amount of power Zankou possessed may have been the reason The Source imprisoned him and didn't vanquish him: he may have simply been too powerful for The Source to vanquish given the amount of power he possessed. In fact, Zankou actually seemed stronger than the Source and was the only demon capable of killing him at full strength all on his own, which actually calls to wonder just how powerful Zankou could've been had he successfully overthrown and become the Source. * The Source is one of the demons in the series to show no interest to get the Book of Shadows, only pursuing it, let alone taking it, in Phoebe's premonition in "Brain Drain"'' * The half face Source was said to be the Source for thousands of years but a Dark Priest said that it only had been five hundred years. Presumably, the half faced Source wanted to make himself sound even more powerful to magnify his dominance as much as possible. * When the Hollow took the Source's powers it is unknown how he got his powers back when he returned from the dead. However, noting that both the half-faced demon and the Source powers were in the Demonic Wasteland, it's possible they may have somehow reunited within the beast there. * Under certain circumstances, killing the Source without using the Power of Three is possible. In "Brain Drain", for example, Cole Turner came very close to accomplishing this with the most powerful energy ball seen on the show while the Source had been expending a lot of his power manipulating Piper's mind. The Oracle in the Source's service had to sacrifice herself to save him. * The Source's blood is black. In context of Cole saying once that upper-level demons bleed red, this means that either that demons as powerful as him bleed black or the Source entity turns a demon's blood black. * The Source was aware of the prophecy of the Twice Blessed Child; Wyatt, but did not live to see Wyatt come to be until the brief resurrection in late 2005. * The Source has a sword but he is only seen with it in "All Hell Breaks Loose" and in "Charmed Again, Part 2" when he stabs Cole Turner as Shane. * The Source seems to have the power to delay or slow down death as he kept Cole alive so Phoebe could see him die. * The Source is immune to the Charmed Ones' individual powers, most notably Piper's freezing power. * Prue Halliwell is the only Charmed One not to have met the Source. Her permanent death, the only such for any of the sisters on the show, at the hands of the Source's assassin Shax occurred in the same episode as his first on-screen appearance. * The Avatars seem to have been comparable in power to the Source, as in 2004, around the time of the Avatars' 21st-century rise, an Elders told Leo Wyatt that they had sensed a power like no other since the Source was alive. * The Source's first appearance is in "All Hell Breaks Loose" although he was mentioned before in "Give Me a Sign" and "Wicca Envy", as well as alluded to on occasion throughout the early seasons. * The Source's last appearance is in "Desperate Housewitches", in which he was temporarily resurrected. * The Source was resurrected once again, in the third issue of Charmed Comics, Innocents Lost, by the first witch Neena and warlock Hogan. Appearances The Source of All Evil appeared in a total of '''14' episodes throughout the course of the series, and 4 issues throughout the course of the comic series: References }} Source of All Evil, The Source of All Evil, The Source of All Evil, The Category:Vanquished or Killed Category:Deceased Category:Comic Characters Category:Evil